Re-dressing a popular Intrada title! As needs to re-press Dressed To Kill arose, Intrada elected to return to original source mixes and remaster entire CD, making new enhancements to audio as well as judicious changes to original track assembly. Additionally, slightly re-worked packaging design by Kay Marshall enhances this new remastered edition. The following text accompanied initial Intrada release from 2013: Pino Donaggio score for Brian De Palma horror thriller gets brand-newly remixed, remastered & expanded CD! Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen bring delicious psycho-killer tale to life with terrifying results. Donaggio matches mayhem with his most vivid, intense film score to date. Gorgeous main theme plays in direct contrast to suspense material. Deserving spotlight is rhythmic slashing motif, scored for orchestra with frightening trombone glissandi stealing the thunder. Though present on original 1980 two-track mixes, striking color was somehow diminished. Brand new 2013 mix from newly-discovered actual 2" 24-track session masters finally unleashes chilling trombone color at last. Session masters (long considered lost when repeated searches kept leading to partial outtake rolls only) also allow Intrada to premiere dramatic material associated with Peter (Keith Gordon) assembling, mounting his surveillance camera to scope out sinister activities. Many other cues make world premiere appearance, including further exploration of dynamic action material. Two tracks were vaulted in two-track stereo only, the remainder were vaulted in 24-track formats. Together these pristine-condition masters allow rich, rewarding expansion of what is generally thought of as Donaggio's most terrifying work. Informative notes by Scott Bettencourt, dramatic art design by Joe Sikoryak complete exciting package! Natale Massara conducts. Intrada Special Collection release available while quantities and interest remain!
01. Theme From Dressed To Kill (Main Title) (4:10) 02. Kate’s Confession (0:44) 03. Bad Night (0:34) 04. The Museum (6:15) 05. The Cab (1:57) 06. The Note (4:18) 07. The Forgotten Ring (3:23) 08. Death In The Elevator (2:16) 09. Telephone Message From Bobbi (1:17) 10. Marino And Elliot (0:51) 11. Mike Arrives (0:33) 12. Peter Builds Camera (1:47) 13. Peter Sets Camera (2:26) 14. Policewoman Follows Liz (0:58) 15. Flight From Bobbi (2:23
16. After Flight (0:26) 17. Liz Chased By Hoods (1:25) 18. Liz And Peter (1:07) 19. Elliot And Levy (0:29) 20. Liz And Peter Watch Film (1:01) 21. Dressed To Kill (1:36) 22. The Erotic Story (2:43) 23. The Transformation (4:04) 24. Liz At Police Station (0:17) 25. Romantic Interlude (0:43) 26. The Asylum (3:08) 27. Bobbi Outside House (0:40) 28. The Nightmare (4:15) 29. Theme From Dressed To Kill (End Title) (2:33) Total Time: 59:04
Tech Talk From The Producer- Revisited
WE ORIGINALLY HAD PLANNED TO SIMPLY RE-PRESSDressed to Kill after selling out our existing stock. I went back to the CD master intending
to have Joe Tarantino add DDP text and we’d be ready to go. But there were things in the
album that could still be improved upon, and now was certainly the time to do so.
Listeners voiced opinions regarding the audio of our initial expanded release back
in 2013. The additional music was exciting; the crisp instrumental detail was welcome
... but the dry sound? Not so much. We reviewed the project and agreed. Rather than
just create DDP text for today’s CD players and repress
the discs, we would go back a few steps and
remaster everything—not just from our existing 2013
source master but from the 2” 24-track mixes we had
newly prepared at that time. Those new mixes were
the reason our release offered so much more clarity
and detail than the original 1980 release (which had
been produced from two-track mixes).
The main audio advantage of going back to
those 24-track mixes was readily apparent. Now we
could take advantage of today’s state-of-the-art Altiverb capabilities, bring some “air” into
the small New York venue where the sessions took place and enhance the room size.
But we could also now revisit the assembly and address a couple of editorial
decisions that have always bothered me, both on the original 1980 release and the
2013 version that replicated those choices. The original version presented the score
out of sequence with the picture and joined a couple of otherwise unrelated cues
together since they were in the same minor key—“Liz And Peter” and “Romantic
Interlude.” But each of these cues was complete unto itself and “marrying” them reduced
their musical impact rather than enhanced it. Both earlier releases also made
similar editorial choices to lengthen the various shorter tracks involved.
Unlike with most film scores, Pino Donaggio wrote and recorded every single cue
for Dressed to Kill as a complete piece, designed to stand alone, no matter how brief it
may be. The only sequence, in fact, requiring further assembly were two parts for “The
Erotic Story,” and this was simply because a short pickup of the opening keyboard arpeggios
addressing the performance still needed to be edited with the remainder of the cue.
So our decision was made. We would completely reassemble the new master from
the foundation up, not only enhancing the audio but also for the first time including every
cue from the 2” masters in chronological sequence, allowing every piece to stand on its
own, as the composer had recorded them.
Donaggio created what has become a seminal score of the early ’80s. His blend of
sensual, almost hypnotic music for strings with frequent solo colors from flute and piano
virtually defines romance. In contrast, his vivid thriller sequences replete with slashing
trombones and piercing French horns (there are no trumpets or tuba in the orchestrations)
pitted against the strings is frightening indeed.
Two opposing musical moods on display for your listening pleasure, courtesy a
master of both—Pino Donaggio.
